Revisiting Peru’s Nazca Lines

By Lee Klein

As our Cessna again circled over the giant figures
on the ground I shot the final slide on my roll of film and, leaning
at a 45 degree angle, attempted to reload my camera. Another pass over
a monkey larger than a football field and we headed back to the dirt
landing strip on Peru’s Nazca Desert. This was my first trip to
Nazca, and the year was 1979.

In the arid desert of Peru, California Native founder, Lee
Klein, and Peruvian pilot return from another flight over the
ancient Nazca lines. The giant figures and geometric patterns
were unknown in the modern world until they were spotted by aircraft
in the 1930's.

The Nazca Desert is a high arid plateau which stretches 37 miles between
the towns of Nazca and Palpa in southern Peru. Hundreds of square miles
of this dry, rocky plain are marked with lines, triangles and other geometric
shapes, some running for more than five miles in a straight line. There
are also giant drawings including a monkey, a spider, birds, reptiles,
and whales.

The desert markings, believed to have been made thousands of years ago,
made little impression on occasional travelers who viewed them from ground
level, but when they were spotted by aircraft in the 1930’s they
caught the world’s attention. They have since been surveyed, mapped
and studied. Only two questions remain—who made them, and why?

In his 1968 book, “Chariots of the Gods,” Swiss writer Eric
von Daniken suggested that the lines were built by “ancient astronauts” as
a landing field. Looking at the lines from the sky they do resemble an
airport, but it doesn’t seem reasonable that advanced extraterrestrial
spacecraft would require landing strips. Besides, Nazca’s soft,
sandy soil is hardly suitable for an airport. Forgetting the “Twilight
Zone” theories, we can imagine a more down to earth explanation.
We know that the region has been inhabited for thousands of years—by
the Paracas, 900–200 BC, by the Nazcas, 200 BC–600 AD, and
by others. The figures are generally attributed to the Nazcas since they
resemble those on Nazca pottery.

But why create figures which can be seen only from the sky? A reasonable
explanation is that they were not intended to be viewed by humans but
by gods. A local school teacher in the area explained his theory to me.
The lines all point toward the Andes—the source of the water which
flows into the area through underground aquifers. The figures, he believed,
represent the bounty made possible by this water. The Indians probably
conducted rituals on these giant drawings to thank the gods and ensure
that the water would continue to flow.

They created the lines that extend for miles by placing two stakes in
a row, sighting along them to place a third stake, then repeating the
process. By moving the desert’s stones and scraping its surface
coating, in the absence of rain, the lines have survived the centuries.
Hopefully, they will survive many more centuries for future generations
to marvel at.

Not far from the lines is the ancient Nazca cemetery at Chauchilla. The
Nazcas buried their dead, along with many of their possessions, in underground
vaults lined with mud bricks. The bodies were dressed in embroidered
cotton clothes, placed in a fetal position, and coated with resin. The
hot, dry climate mummified the bodies. Over the centuries the tombs were
looted by huaqueros, grave robbers, who located the chambers by sticking
poles into the ground.

On my first visit to the site, the scene was of a desolate desert, pockmarked
with holes, and littered with human skulls and bones, broken pottery,
with colored designs still vivid on their surfaces, and strands of mummy-cloth
blowing in the wind. No other person was there except for the Peruvian
school teacher, who was my guide, and two German tourists. While the
Peruvian and I talked, the Germans were busy stuffing skulls into their
backpacks for souvenirs.

Now, a quarter-of-a-century later, things are different at the ancient
cemetery. The desecrated graves are roped off and trails lead to observation
kiosks where mummies and artifacts are displayed. The two German tourists
would no longer be able to take a long-deceased Nazcan home with them.